In 1983, George Mason University established the Plan for
Alternative General Education (PAGE). It was a program that
provided entering freshmen an alternative way to fulfill the
general education requirements of the university. It was an
interdisciplinary, forty-five credit, two-year curriculum,
which integrated knowledge from various academic
disciplines.

At its peak PAGE enrolled 250 new students each year and
aimed to provide a sense of community and unity among students
and faculty that was seen to be missing at large state
academic institutions. In the spring of 1997, the College of
Arts and Sciences and the George Mason University Faculty
Senate voted to convert PAGE into an honors program. And on
May 15, 1998, the last PAGE class graduated, ending its
existence.

PAGE's fifteen-year existence was innovative and forward-
thinking for its time. Its innovative spirit could be seen in
its approach to course design and in methods of teaching,
which included a interdisciplinary approach to teaching.PAGE
was recognized for its success in providing an creative
approach to higher education when, in 1986, it received the G.
Theodore Mitau Award for Innovation and Change in Higher
Education from the Association of American State Colleges and
Universities.